J Appl Biomed 17:46, 2019 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2018.004

Endocrine responses after a single bout of moderate aerobic exercise in healthy adult humans

Maria Dourida1,*, Marinella Tzanela2, Athina Asimakopoulou2, Efi Botoula2, Michael Koutsilieris1, Anastassios Philippou1
1 National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Department of Physiology, Athens, Greece
2 Evagelismos Hospital, Department of Endocrinology-Diabetes Centre, Athens, Greece

Exercise is a stress stimulus for the human organism affecting the homeostatic mechanisms of the body, depending on the type, duration, intensity and frequency of exercise. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a moderate aerobic exercise bout on the Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis acute hormonal responses in healthy adult humans. Twelve healthy male and female volunteers (age: 30.6 ± 4.4 years), performed a single bout of a 30-minute aerobic exercise at 70% of VO2max on a treadmill, following standard diet. Blood samples were collected before (t0), at the end of the exercise bout (t30), and 30 min after the completion of exercise (t60). Serum adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol (COR), aldosterone (ALDO) and renin (REN) were measured. One-way ANOVA was used for statistics. ACTH and COR decreased after exercise, reaching significance (p < 0.01) 30 min after the completion of the exercise bout. ALDO increased at the end of exercise and remained elevated 30 min after its completion. REN significantly increased at the end of exercise (p < 0.05) and remained elevated. The exercise regimen used in this study had beneficial effects on the stress axis, suggesting that specific exercise protocols can be characterised by mild physiological stress-inducing effects hence be prescribed for special diseased populations.

Keywords: ACTH; Aerobic exercise; Aldosterone; Cortisol; Hormonal responses; HPA axis; Renin; Stress
Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interests to declare.

Received: May 10, 2018; Accepted: November 1, 2018; Prepublished online: November 23, 2018; Published: March 19, 2019  Show citation

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Dourida M, Tzanela M, Asimakopoulou A, Botoula E, Koutsilieris M, Philippou A. Endocrine responses after a single bout of moderate aerobic exercise in healthy adult humans. J Appl Biomed. 2019;17(1):46. doi: 10.32725/jab.2018.004. PubMed PMID: 34907745.
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